How about something like: 
#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

my $len = $ARGV[0];
my $cur = 10;

print "|---+----";
while ($cur < $len) {
    my $prn = $cur % 100 ? $cur % 100 : $cur;
    my $sep = substr "|----+----", length($prn);
    print $prn, $sep;
    $cur += 10;
}
print "|\n";

[download]
No hardcoded numbers at all. Call it with prog.pl <length>: 
~/tmp$ perl ruler.pl 50
|---+----10---+----20---+----30---+----40---+----|
~/tmp$ perl ruler.pl 140
|---+----10---+----20---+----30---+----40---+----50---+----60---+----70---+----80---+----90---+----100--+----10---+----20---+----30---+----|

In reply to Re: How to build a better mousetrap (or a variable to hold a column-measuring scale) by Paladin
in thread How to build a better mousetrap (or a variable to hold a column-measuring scale) by roho

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